Staffing, wages main issues in AFSCME talks with City of Peoria

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3464 started bargaining with the City of Peoria on Nov. 21 on a contract to succeed the labor pact scheduled to expire December 31, with adequate staffing and wages the main issues.

AFSCME says personnel reductions in recent years have resulted in increased workloads, and regular step wage increases were suspended years ago, meaning experienced workers with almost a decade on the job are now paid about what relatively new hires make.

The union says while they’ve been forced to do “more with less,” affecting public services, management positions have received yearly raises of some 4%.

Local 3464 represents more than 170 employees under different contracts with the City, the Peoria Civic Center, the Peoria Housing Authority and the Peoria Public Library.

“In my department, in the Emergency Communications Center, we have not been fully staffed since 2008,” said Local 3464 Vice President Anthony Wallraven, a 911 dispatcher. “Members are contractually obligated to work 48 hours a week. Most of us are working 60 hours a week, at least. I don't think it's safe. It's led to burnout and low morale. They have been actively trying to hire, but people can make almost as much working at Costco and with much less stress and a better work schedule.

“In Community Development/Code Enforcement, they make less and have to do the work two people did 10 years ago,” he continued. “In the Police Records Department, as recently as six months ago they started out at $17 an hour.”

Working conditions have declined as the responsibilities have expanded with the City, Wallraven added.

“Since 2008, the city has cut staff by over 40% while at the same time continuing to annex new areas north of the city and expanding the size of Peoria,” he said. “I don't have the exact figure, but for example, there are as many firefighters in Peoria now as in 1984 when I was born, despite the city having dramatically.grown in territory.

“When people complain about a lack of municipal services in Peoria, that's a big reason why,” he continued. “We have gone from three full shifts of a civilian records department at the police station to one, so that people can't pay fines, register for things, get vehicles out of impound save for 9-5 Monday-Friday. We have gone from a regular rental inspection system to a complaint-based one, which has affected the quality of housing stock. This is because we have cut the number of code inspectors so that one is doing the work of two or three. For an example, there used to be two code inspectors and three or four code-inspector aides for the South end, doing environmental and code inspections. [Now] there is one inspector and one aide.”

In a statement, the City said its policy is to refrain from commenting on collective bargaining.

“We see all this go on as the city bends over backwards to subsidize real-estate developers with parking lots that studies the city commissioned said they didn't need in the Warehouse District, creates tax abatement districts that encompass whole parts of the city, and continues to create TIF districts that starve District 150 and the Park District of additional tax revenue,” Wallraven said.

Meanwhile, Local 3464 began negotiations with the Library on Nov. 29.